1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an induction heating system for inductively heating a given component mounted to a motor-driven vehicle
2. Description of the Background Art
In a vehicle, such as an automobile, there is a frequent need for heating (warming) a given component mounted thereto (such a component required to be heated will hereinafter be referred to as “target component”). For example, it is required to heat an air-conditioning heater core as a target component to warm a vehicle-interior space, and, in an engine-equipped vehicle, to heat an exhaust gas purifying catalyst as a target component to quickly activate the catalyst. In this connection, JP 2006-151199A discloses an air-conditioning system comprising a heater (auxiliary heater) which is disposed immediately downstream of a heater core and provided with a direct current (DC) resistor (heat-generating element) to secondarily heat air-conditioning air.
As one type of vehicle, there has been known a vehicle adapted to be driven by a motor (hereinafter referred to as “motor-driven vehicle”). It has also been known to use an alternating current (AC) motor as the vehicle-driving motor in view of energy efficiency and other factors. In the motor-driven vehicle using an AC motor, a DC-AC converter (i.e., inverter) is provided to convert a direct current from an electrical storage device into an alternating current and supply the alternating current to the AC motor.
The above heater using the DC resistor (heat-generating element) has extremely poor energy efficiency. Although it is contemplated to heat the heater by means of induction heating, this approach gives rise to a need for additionally providing a DC-AC converter for converting a direct current into an alternating current, which causes a problem about an increase in cost and the number of components.